“Progressive” talk radio network Air America went bankrupt a few weeks ago. As I reported here, broadcasting industry insiders blamed poor business practices, not political philosophy.

However, they overlooked the fact that the two are intimately connected. “Ideas have consequences,” and all that.

Case in point: Now we find out that far left MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was still on the Air America payroll, even though she stopped working for them over a year ago.

Radio industry watcher Brian Maloney reports all the sordid details: “For a no-show ‘job’ right out of an Obamist stimulus scheme, the MSNBC talker was paid $70,000 per annum for a one-hour audio-only rerun of the previous night’s cable program. Segments were cut up to fit network radio’s format and a few brief pre-recorded introductions were added using Maddow’s voice.

“Nice work if you can get it!” Maloney added.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh served as a judge at the Miss America Pageant last Saturday night, and predictably, the buzz still won’t die down.

Incredibly, Headline News talking head Joy Behar actually tried to convince her (dwindling) viewers that Rush had been booed when introduced to the pageant audience – leading me to wonder elsewhere if Behar might need that cochlear implant more than Limbaugh.

The media finally got their hoped-for “scandal” later in the week, when Rush made a corny “sexist” joke on “Fox & Friends,” about “the women’s movement” (FREE video).

Except nobody really cared. Likewise when Limbaugh blasted White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for calling fellow Democrats “retards” in a private meeting. As usual, liberal media watchers were quick to denounce Rush for repeating the word – but not Emanuel for saying it in the first place!

Glenn Beck

On “ABC Sunday Morning,” Arianna Huffington tried and failed to get Glenn Beck’s boss at Fox News, Roger Ailes, to denounce the controversial, highly rated host and his “incendiary” language.

As Beck pointed out on his radio show on Monday, this was pretty rich (FREE video):

GLENN: Arianna Huffington, I would like you to explain this. The last time and the only time that I’ve ever seen you or spoken to you, you asked me to write for the Huffington Post and tried to convince me that it would be good because you are so open minded and everything else. Now, were you trying to incite people when you asked me to write for the Huffington Post? Or are you going to deny that? It was I can tell you when it was. It was at the Time Most Influential 100 dinner last year when I was an absolute nobody. But I was on Fox News and I was saying the same stuff. What?

STU: So Person A asks Person B to write for them, then Person B blows them off. Then Person A goes on national television and says they are inciting violence.

GLENN: That’s weird.

STU: Weird.

GLENN: That’s weird.

STU: Wow.

Meanwhile, Bill O’Reilly defended his “Bold Fresh” co-star from attacks by Time Magazine’s Joe Klein, who obviously had never even watched Beck’s program (FREE video).

In “Lady Gaga, Glenn Beck and You,” radio insider Randall Bloomquist noted the surprising similarities between these two very different media superstars and the secrets to their success.

Beck’s best call of the week came from a black listener who’d been biased against Beck due to the mainstream media’s smear campaigns against him. Today, however, the caller is a big fan (FREE webcam video).

(Note: Beck’s audio archives and podcasts are available to premium subscribers only. However, you can still “TiVo” your favorite talk radio shows, whether you’re on a Mac or a PC.

Mark Levin

Mark Levin was so sure Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was drunk when he spoke on the Senate floor that he challenged the people of Vermont to secede from the Union: (“Don’t worry — we’ll change the flags. Just get out!”) (FREE audio).

Meg Whitman also came on the show. Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, is now running for governor of California. She and Hewitt talked about the state of the economy, with Whitman saying, “I think the country is crying out for people who’ve met a payroll, who’ve gotten a return on investment, who’s gotten more productive. You know, in business, next year, you’ve got to do 10 percent more for the same amount. And I see that every day on the campaign trail” (FREE audio).

Hewitt also talked to regular guest, author Mark Steyn, who mocked Obama’s repeated mispronunciation of the word “corpsman” during his National Prayer Breakfast address: “I think corpse-man is the new zombie superhero, isn’t he, coming out in the big James Cameron movie? That’s what corpse-man is. But this guy, I think you’re right. [Obama] wings everything. And that’s why he spends so much time speaking to so little good. I mean, this is, apart from the fact that it’s kind of revealing culturally in a broad sense, it typifies the Obama method.

“This is a man who has nothing going for him except words,” Steyn continued. “He’s never done anything in his life. He just talks. He talks and talks. And the more his rhetoric is detached from reality, the more he’s actually devaluing his only currency, which is words.”

Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager received a standing ovation at the House Republicans retreat this week. Here are his remarks.

Back in the studio, he had another terrific week, talking to David Aaronovitch, author of a book encouraging single women to “settle for Mr. Good Enough.” Aaronovitch’s new book debunks popular conspiracy theories and discusses the fatal effects of “junk science” on our lives (Audio is members only).

For the first time ever, Savage has been invited to attend the prestigious (and sometimes controversial) White House Correspondents’ Dinner (FREE audio).

This week, Savage got involved in the case of 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, who shot an al-Qaida operative who’d tried to attack him. After Savage talked about the case on the air and personally donated $10,000 to Behenna’s legal defense fund, his listeners chipped in an additional $40,000 and sent the family more than a thousand letters of support.

Laura Ingraham

Calling Obama’s remarks at the annual National Prayer Breakfast “a disaster,” Laura Ingraham also had choice words for newly elected Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown, who seemed to throw his tea party supporters under the bus during his very first television interview.

Speaking of tea parties, Laura also spoke to CNBC’s Rick Santelli this week and asked why neither party was trying to rein in deficit spending. Ingraham had an inspirational talk as well with the great Tony Dungy about the Super Bowl, the Tim Tebow ad and Dungy’s charity, All Pro Dad (FREE audio).

On the same subject, Medved explained why Hollywood insists on bashing Big Business in its movies – even though “show biz” is just as “big” any other business!

On the air, Medved debated class warfare with a “Ken in Long Beach” (FREE audio).

G. Gordon Liddy

A highlight this week was Liddy’s talk with “The Smartest Man in America,” economist Thomas Sowell. Luckily, Liddy’s audio archives are freely accessible, so you can also hear his conversations with a historian who discovered an early draft of the Constitution, an expert on the smartest (and dumbest) breeds of dogs and much, much more (FREE audio).

Ricochet

A new conservative podcast debuted this week. “Ricochet” will be a weekly show, hosted by Rob Long (Hollywood scriptwriter and National Review contributor) and Peter Robinson, who wrote Ronald Reagan’s famous “Tear down this wall” speech (FREE audio).

Unlike a lot of writers, these two are fine program hosts, too. They talked to guest Mark Steyn about world events and even popular music. The program is relaxed, entertaining and informative – a lot like eavesdropping on a brilliant cocktail party conversation. It’s a palate cleanser compared to the staccato, hyperactive pace of regular broadcast talk radio.

My only complaint so far? A really bad website that doesn’t do the show justice. Come on, “Ricochet” – get your online act together. Otherwise, this new podcast promises to be a refreshing addition to every conservative’s listening schedule.